


I've Spent Too Long On Your Trail

by kaspbro



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Basically, Bisexual Bill Denbrough, Bisexual Richie Tozier, Boys In Love, F/M, Gay Eddie Kaspbrak, Gay Stanley Uris, M/M, Or Is It?, Pining, Soulmate AU, Wow, an original idea right there, and then comes back, angst angst angst, boys falling in love, canon au i guess, forgets, guess his sexuality, like pennywise is mentioned, mike is a wild card, prepare yourselves, reddie is endgame fyi, richie moves away, the stozier is platonic for most part, there's like some bichie but if you blink you'll miss it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-02-26 07:24:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13230834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaspbro/pseuds/kaspbro
Summary: Richie's parents decided to move out of Derry after the somewhat unfortunate incident with the child-murdering clown when he was twelve - five years later, he comes back.^^some could also call this the soulmate au which none of you wanted.





	1. prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and thank you for clicking on this story! This is my first fanfiction ever, so I hope you all like it!

**Prologue**

 

Richie had been twelve when his parents had decided to move away from Derry. His mother spoke something about a new beginning and fixing their issues somewhere far away from Derry. And for once Richie could agree with his mother when she called Derry ’a God-forsaken town where everything is shit’, and he would give _anything_ to watch the town from the rearview mirror of their old car.

 

The only problem was that he wasn’t willing to leave his friends. He wasn’t willing to leave Beverly, who was like the sister from a different mister to him, the other half of his brain, his partner in crime. He wasn’t willing to leave Stan, his first and best friend, his voice of reason. He wasn’t willing to leave Bill, the one he had always looked up to, the one he could always go for advice, who pretty much made Richie realize that he most definitely wasn’t straight. He wasn’t willing to leave Ben, who he could always go to when he wanted somebody to just talk to him in order to calm him down, who was so much more than you could see in the first look. He wasn’t willing to leave Mike, who he might not have known for that long, but who Richie knew he could trust with his life, with his deepest darkest secrets, who was so kind that Richie didn’t feel like it was fair for the rest of the world.

 

But above all else, Richie wasn’t willing to leave _Eddie_. Because Richie might’ve loved all his friends the equal amount, but Eddie _wasn’t his friend_. If Eddie were Richie’s friend, he’d be his best friend, but that spot was already Stan’s. No, to Richie Eddie was anything but a mere friend. The deep burning Richie felt in his heart everytime he was with Eddie, when he saw Eddie, when he just thought about Eddie, it was more than just friendship. Richie might’ve been young, he might’ve understood very little about the world, but he did know one thing: he was so unexplicably, head-over-heels, kick-me-in-the-nuts in love with Eddie that Richie knew it was going to be the death of him one day.

 

Richie didn’t know if Eddie felt the same way, but he did know for a fact that they were supposed to be together. He had seen the mark on Eddie’s ankle, the mark that people usually hid so well, the mark that was so perfectly similar to the one on Richie’s ankle that Richie could have started crying if he had been the kind of person to cry.

 

Richie couldn’t just _leave_ , knowing that the people he cared for most in the world, his fucking soulmate, were going to be left behind. Richie knew that once you left Derry, you never came back. And Richie didn’t want to leave Derry without his friends, without Eddie Fucking Kaspbrak.

 

But it didn’t help that he clung onto Eddie when his friends came to say their goodbyes. His parents couldn’t give a less of a shit when Richie screamed that he wouldn’t leave without his Eddie Spagetti. Eddie had tried to calm Richie down – telling him that it was okay, filling him with promises of weekly letters and phone calls, the possibilities of visiting – Richie just didn’t want to let go.

 

But in the end, clinging onto Eddie didn’t stop his parents from dragging Richie into the car and driving away, leaving Derry for what Richie thought would be forever.

 

It didn’t take long for Richie to forget – forget about the clown that terrorized the town every 27 years, forget what Beverly’s laughter sounded like, forget how Stan would roll his eyes at Richie, forget Bill’s stutters, forget Ben’s love for history and Mike’s kindness. The last thing Richie forgot was Eddie – Richie forgot about the soulmark on Eddie’s ankle and how Eddie was the one thing in Richie’s life that he treasured above all else.

 

But Richie didn’t forget about the warm feeling in his heart. He could never name it, but sometimes he would get an empty feeling inside him, like something was missing but he wasn’t sure what. Sometimes he would dream about a wide smile with perfectly straight pearly white teeth and happy eyes, cheeks with freckles and slight blush covering them. Richie would wake up, feeling oddly out of breath, chocking, because he couldn’t get air into his lungs. One of his new friends suggested that Richie had asthma – just that one word made him feel pain inside him, like something was ripped out of his chest, but he could never quite pinpoint what.

 

Richie ignored it most of the time. He moved on with his life, not thinking about the small town he came from, because frankly it was a shitty town even if he had no memory of the place. He found new friends, his parents remained the same, he formed a habit out of smoking and life went on.

 

And when his junior year in high school had ended, Richie’s parents informed him that at the end of summer, they would move back to Derry. The town which Richie had stopped thinking about.

 

He didn’t remember all at once. Piece by piece, his memory came back – Stan, Beverly, Ben, Bill, Mike and _Eddie_. The holes in his memory started to fill in like puzzle pieces and Richie couldn’t belive that he had allowed himself to _forget_. _How_ could someone forget all that? The emptiness he had felt inside him found a reason for being there, the wide smile and freckled cheeks the name behind them. Richie didn’t want to imagine the confusion and sadness his friends must’ve felt when he never called, when he never wrote and when he never asked them to come visit. They probably didn’t even think about him anymore.

 

Richie didn’t know how he was going to fix all he broke when he would get back to Derry. Things must’ve changed a lot while he was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**1.**

 

”You can walk home right?” Richie’s dad asked from the driver’s seat as Richie was unbuckling his belt. It was the first day of school in Derry and they had just arrived last night – so his father had granted him this one act of kindness and promised to drive him to school, since Richie’s own car was more or less wrecked right now.

 

Richie stared at the few students that had come to school early and wondered if he knew any of them. ”Yeah, I’ll walk,” Richie muttered and got out of the car, swinging his bag overt his shoulder. He would have to stop by the vice principal before classes – there he would gate his schedule and books.

 

The walk from where his dad had left him to the actual school building seemed too long for Richie’s taste. His feet felt like they weighted a ton and he wanted to turn around and run away while he could. But there was no way he was going to get away with that, and he was going to have to face this eventually anyway.

 

The Derry High was eerily similar to the Derry middle school – the only difference was that the hallways were slightly wider and the walls lighter. Other than that, it might as well been the same place. The vice principal’s office was right next to the entrance, so Richie didn’t have to look for very long, fortunately. Richie had often been told to go to the vice principal’s office while in middle school, sometimes even the principal’s – all because behaving correctly wasn’t really Richie’s strong suit.

 

”Come in,” a female voice came from behind the door as Richie knocked on the door. Opening the door, Richie was greeted with a strict looking female, somewhere on her forties, sitting behind a desk and going through some papers. ”Can I help you, young man?” she asked, looking up at Richie like he was a piece of chewed out gum she found under her shoe.

 

It was nothing new though. Richie’s denim jackets and ripped jeans usually had that effect on adults, not to mention his uncombed, unruly curly hair that he liked to keep slightly longer.

 

”Yeah, I’m Richie Tozier, the new student,” Richie said, biting his cheek and watching as the vice principal looked through her papers.

 

”Ah, yes of course. Good that you came early, please sit down.”

 

Richie did as told and watched as the lady went through some more papers, writing her name on few before taking his schedule from her drawer and handing it to him. ”Here’s your schedule and your locker number. Your books will be found ready in your locker, that’s a custom in our school. We don’t get many new students...” she trailed off, looking at the papers. ”You’re originally from Derry?” she asked, looking up at Richie with raised brows.

 

Richie nodded. ”Yes, ma’am. Born and raised,” he said. ”Not sure if that something to be very proud off, though.”

 

The vice principal gave him a tight smile. ”Well, that’s a matter of opinion. We have a fellow senior coming to show you around, I’m sure that you’ll...” she took another long and calculating look of Richie’s appearance. ”… get along just fine.”

 

Her tone didn’t sound too convincing, but Richie didn’t have time to question it. Somebody else knocked on the door just as she had finished her sentence and the vice president called them in as well.

 

”Here he is now,” she said, and Richie turned around to face the new comer.

 

It didn’t take long for Richie to recognize the boy as somebody he knew. His hair was curly, but not like Richie’s – the curls were much tidier and shorter, neatly styled on his head like the boy actually took his time in the morning in front of the mirror. He was wearing a light blue button-up shirt, tucked neatly into his brown, well-ironed pants. His shoes were dark brown, spotless leather and he was carrying a brown backpack. Richie knew who the boy was.

 

”This is Stanley Uris,” the vice principal introduced him, but Richie didn’t need it. He was half-way out of his seat to hug Stanley, but something stopped him.

 

Stan’s eyes widened slightly as he took a good look at Richie. The look on his face could only be described as one of surprise, but Stan was quick to pull himself back together and give Richie a tight smile and offer him his hand.

 

”You must be, ahem, Richard Tozier,” he said, his voice laced with forced friendliness. ”I’m going to be your ’tour-guide’ for today.”

 

”Okay, so now you are all nice and familiar,” the vice-principal said. ”Here’s your locker number Mr Tozier. Remember to stop by your locker, all your books are there.”

 

Then the both of them were rushed out of the office and the door slammed after them. Stan flinched slightly at the hard bang, but didn’t say anything. ”So what’s your first period?” he asked, gesturing to Richie’s schedule, but not looking him in the eye.

 

”What, no ’hello’? No ’good to see you again’? No ’I missed you so much’?” Richie asked sarcastically as he handed his schedule to Stan. ”You’re really hurting my feelings here Staniel.”

 

The glare Stan gave him was the meanest Richie had ever seen on him. ”Oh, you were expecting that, were you? After five years of not bothering to call once or send a letter or anything? Do you know what it feels like to hear your best friend promise you that he’ll keep in touch and then do the exact opposite?”

 

”Now now Stanny, you could’ve done that yourself-”

 

”You never gave me your address. You never gave me your new phone number. You never gave us anything, to any of us. You can’t just assume that it’s okay and that nothing happened,” Stan spat out harshly before looking at Richie’s schedule. ”You have biology first. Come on.”

 

The halls were now more growded than they were when Richie came to the school, but nobody was paying any attention to him or Stan, who was stalking ahead of him, keeping his steps long and quick, as if he was making sure that Richie would stay behind and not try to talk to him. It wouldn’t have been too hard for Richie to catch up with him though – Stan might’ve been tall, but Richie was taller. It shouldn’t have been so satisfying to notice, but throughout their childhood, the one thing Stan always could tease Richie about was the fact that he was taller than Richie.

 

”Stan would you please let me explain myself,” Richie pleaded, ctaching up with Stan with two easy steps.

 

”Oh there’s no need to do that. I know that life in the marvelous San Fransisco must’ve been much greater than here – you didn’t think you’d ever come back, so staying in touch with us wasn’t important to you. I. Get. It. I don’t want to hear your petty excuses,” Stan galred at him as he stopped dead on his tracks and crossed his arms over his chest. ”There’s your locker.”

 

”Okay, that’s completely understandable,” Richie agreed, checking what the combination to his locker was and opening the door. ”I’d probably react the same way as you. But you really got to hear me out-”

 

”No Richie, I don’t want to hear you out,” Stan cut him off, putting a hand up in a order to silence Richie. ”I know that you didn’t think you’d need us as friends anymore as you probably got new once and now you suddenly do again, but that’s not how it works. You might not have wanted to have anything to do with _me_ or _us_ , but I know that _I_ wanted to hear from _you_. So please just don’t-”

 

”I forgot about you,” Richie admitted, this time cutting Stan off, quite effectively in fact. Stan immediately shut his mouth and looked at Richie with the look of absolute _hurt_ on his face, and Richie understood. ”I completely, and absolutely forgot your entire existance. I didn’t remember you or Bill or Mike or Ben or Bev or… Eddie. I forgot about this fuck-shit town. I don’t know how, but after like two weeks of living in San Fransisco, all of my memories just… disappeared. I know it sounds stupid and unbelievable, and you think that I just didn’t spare you any thought, but that’s what happened. And then mom and dad said we’re moving back to Derry and all the shit that I forgot came back piece by piece and I strated to feel like shit because I knew that’s how you all must feel. So yes, that’s my excuse. Feel free to hate me. Now, where’s the fucking bio lab?”

 

Stan was quiet for a moment, pursing his lips as if he was contemplating something. After a while when people were starting to give them weird looks, Stan started to walk again and Richie followed, having taken all of his books out.

 

After a minute or two of silence, they stopped in front of a classroom and Stan turned to face Richie again. ”Did we really leave that much of a fleeting impression on you that you just straight up went and forgot about us?” he asked with an incredulous scoff, but a small smile grazed his lips. ”And to think that I was under the impression that the clown had somehow traumatized you forever.”

 

Richie wasn’t sure if Stan was still mad at him or just joking at this point. ”So does that mean I’m forgiven or..?”

 

”No, you’re not off the hook that easily Tozier,” Stan shook his head. ”But maybe one day you’ll be forgiven if you play your cards right.” Then Stan turned to walk into the classroom, Richie again following him, somewhat alike to a lost puppy.

 

”Ah, you must be the newest addition to our class,” the teacher said as she noticed the pair of them walking in. She was writing something on the blackboard, but quickly put her chalk down and walked over to Richie. ”I’m Miss Farrah, but I let my students call me Gwen.”

 

Richie grinned widely at her. ”May I say, it’s a downright pleasure to meet you Miss Gwen,” he said, making her laugh gently at him.

 

She was young, or at least looked like it. Definitely that kind of hot-for-a-teacher type, but still not that hot in the Richie Scale. And to be honest, the Richie Scale will always just be Eddie Kaspbrak, even if he didn’t know what the boy looked like now.

 

”Likewise Mr Tozier,” she replied, before glancing at Stan who was awkwardly waiting for Richie. ”Okay, so you might as well sit by Mr Uris there, as you seem to already know each other. We have a lot of group work in this class and unfortunately Mr Uris has been left without a pair, so...”

 

”Well of course I’ll sit next to Mr Uris here,” Richie said and threw his arm over Stan’s shoulder. ”My absolute favourite person.”

 

The teacher just smiled in response and allowed Stan and Richie to walk up to their seats in the back of the class. ”So what about the rest of the group?” Richie asked, reffering to the remaining members of the loser’s club – he just wasn’t sure if they went by that name anymore.

 

”I’m sorry what?” Stan asked, his eyebrows greasing.

 

”You know, Mike, Ben, Bev, Bill and… Eddie. What about them? I take it that none of them have this class,” Richie said, taking his items out of his bag.

 

”No, Bill, Ben and Bev all have this class,” Stan said, his lips pursed.

 

Richie’s eyebrows knitted in shock. ”Then why are you not sitting with them?” he asked slowly, making Stan tense visibly.

 

For a while Stan didn’t say anything, just stared at the door as other students came in with their friends, laughing and not paying any attention to the two of them. After a while, Stan let out a long sigh. ”Because we’re not friends anymore,” Stan admitted, his gaze now cast downwards to his books. ”Well, Mike and I still talk and sometimes sit together if we have a shared class, but… I’m not friends with the rest of them anymore.”

 

Richie blinked. ”I’m sorry, I don’t think I heard you quite correctly,” he said, making Stan give him a harsh glare. ”What do you mean you’re not friends anymore? How did that happen?”

 

”It just did, so drop it,” Stan muttered, again staring at the doorway. Richie turned his head there too, noticing the three Stan had perviously mentioned.

 

Beverly Marsh had been a very pretty girl when they were young, but now as a seventeen year old, Beverly Marsh resembled a goddess. She had let her red hair grow long again, and it now reached just past her shoulders, her curls even more lucious than Richie remembered. Her skin was creamy and littered with small freckles and her cheeks glowed red as she laughed at something Ben said to her.

 

Talking about Ben Hanscom, he sure did look different than before. He had definitely lost some of that chubbinesh from the past, but he still was no swimsuit model. It really didn’t matter – Ben looked a lot healthier and happier than he used to, and now he was holding hands with Beverly, and Richie assumed that his desperate crush was not as desperate as they had once thought.

 

And then there was Bill Denbrough. Bill who Richie had always looked up to and secretly envied. Bill was tall – not as tall as Richie but taller than Stan – and his red hair had turned to more of a coppery red. Bill was lean with some slightly prominent muscle definition and judging by the hungry looks of the girls in classroom, Bill had manged snatch himself the title of the school’s heartthrob.

 

The three didn’t even glance in Richie and Stan’s direction, and even if they weren’t friends anymore, Richie thought that was odd. The teacher begun the class, but Richie used it wondering how the hell had his friends had such a bad fall out that they didn’t even want to look at Stan. The whole thing was weird in multiple levels – Richie and Stan had been best friends for their entire childhood, so they told each other just about everything: so Richie knew for a fact that Bill was supposed to be Stan’s souldmate, just like Stan knew that Eddie was Richie’s.

 

”Still not paying attention in class, I see,” Stan stated after the class had ended and they were navigating their way to Richie’s English class.

 

”Why would I bother with something that I don’t need,” Richie grinned, bouncing on his step. ”You wanna tell me why you’re not friends with the Famous Five anymore? I thought you and Bill were soulmates and shit.”

 

”Just because two people are soulmates doesn’t mean that they’ll actually end up together, you do realize that, right?” Stan sighed. ”Bill rejected me when I confronted him about it and that’s where everything started go to shit. I didn’t want to be around Bill anymore, Eddie and Bev weren’t gonna ditch him, Ben wasn’t going to ditch Bev and Mike didn’t want to choose. He kind of did, because it’s not like we even hang out,” Stan explained a bitter expression on his face as he pursed his lips.

 

Richie’s eyes widened at the revelation. He had always been so caught up in Eddie, so in love that he didn’t even think about the possibility of rejection. Sure, his parents clearly weren’t destined for each other, but he had always assumed it was because of other reasons.

 

But still, Richie couldn’t believe that his friends would just ditch Stan like that. Well not ditch, technically Stan distanced himself first – but the fact that they didn’t try to keep Stan with them? It was hard to believe, hard to take in. He had always imagined that the friendship they shared was indestructible. After all, they had gone through some bordeline traumatic things together. Richie imagined that the experience itself was enough to keep them together.

 

But many things had apparently changed while Richie was gone.

 

”So here’s your English classroom,” Stan said when they stopped in front of an open door. ”You’re lucky – you got the less bitchy teacher of the school.”

 

Richie bid his farewell to Stan before walking into the classroom. This time the rest of the class was already seated and so was the teacher.

 

”I assume you’re the new student,” the middle aged man mused with a sigh, making most of the class turn their heads in Richie’s direction.

 

”Aye, aye sir,” Richie saluted with a grin. ”Richie Tozier, at your service.”

 

The teacher didn’t glare at Richie like his previous English teacher had, but he didn’t look pleased by Richie’s eccentric behaviour either. ”You can sit next to… Mr Kaspbrak over there.”

 

Well fuck.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tell me what you thinkkk


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hellooo! this chapter definitely came up a lot quicker than the last one, but in my defense half of this chapter was supposed to be on the first one, but i changed it a little bit and ya know.  
> also thank you for all the nice comments! they make me so happy and give more motivation!

**2.**

 

Thinking back to his childhood, Richie had always thought of Eddie Kaspbrak as a pretty boy. Not just pretty – Eddie Kaspbrak was fucking cute. His skin was tan and smooth, his nose and cheeks littered with beautful freckles, his eyes chocolaty brown with golden specks in the middle, his hair dark and shiny, always styled neatly. Eddie Kaspbrak had always been cute in Richie’s opinion.

 

But a twelve-year-old Eddie could never compare to a seventeen-year-old Eddie. Eddie’s hair was still dark brown, but it seemed as though he had dared to dye it a little bit, just strands of lighter shade here and there. Or maybe the sun had done that. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that Eddie had let his hair curl in just the lightest amount and didn’t style it so carefully anymore. His face had lost its previous baby fat, but his cheeks and nose were still covered by the ocean of freckles, his skin was still tan and his eyes were framed by the longest lashes Richie had ever seen on a guy.

 

Twelve-year-old Eddie Kaspbrak was cute but seventeen-year-old Eddie Kaspbrak was _beautiful_. On top of that all, Eddie was wearing a pastel purpel sweater that seemed to swallow his entire body, making him look smaller than he already was. It took everything in Richie not to wrap his arms around the boy and kiss him until he needed his fucking inhaler, which was still placed on the left corner of his desk, like it always had been when they were kids.

 

But Richie couldn’t just go to Eddie and kiss him, now could he? Not with Eddie looking at him with those wide brown eyes, tears filling them before he quickly wiped them off with his sleeve before anybody else could notice. And there was one thing that Richie considered his absolute kryptonite – Eddie crying.

 

The walk from the front of the class to where Eddie was sitting seemed so slow – it felt like everybody was watching him, struggling to take the steps, but really the only person watching him was Eddie – and he too turned his gaze away when Richie finally dropped his back onto the desk.

 

”How ya doing partner,” Richie said, sitting down on the chair next to Eddie. He wasn’t really sure what to say to him – not that Richie ever knew the right thing to say to anybody. But it wasn’t like him to _not_ say anything. ”The name’s Richie Tozier, you knew that already, and I am absolutely jazzed to meet you.”

 

Eddie didn’t say anything for complete ten seconds. ”You really going to act like we don’t know each other?” he asked, turning his head to look at Richie, and _fuck_ , Richie wasn’t prepared to see those eyes up close. ”Like that’s going to make up for the last five years.”

 

”Ouch, harsh,” Richie whistled. ”You make it sound like I killed your dog or something like that.” Maybe Richie’s game plan wasn’t the best – no, it definitely wasn’t the best. It was an all around bad idea to start acting like a complete asshole, but in his defence… yeah, there was no defence. He just didn’t know how to cope with the situation. It was overwhelming, to say the least, to see Eddie again, all grown up and gorgeous – Richie felt like he was a six year old boy trying to get his crush’s attention – and in a way that was the case.

 

That was exactly the case.

 

Before Eddie could answer Richie, the teacher shushed them and told them to keep quiet or else they’d be flying straight to detention, and Richie knew that the teacher was the kind who did not joke around. And while Richie himself never minded detention – it was actually a preferred hobby of his, as he never had to go straight home that way – but he knew that Eddie wouldn’t want to get in trouble. And so he kept quiet for the rest of the class, sneaking glances off Eddie every once in a while and he knew he was being very obvious about it. Everytime he would move his eyes to Eddie, the smaller boy would cast his eyes down and a light red would cover his cheeks, but Richie knew the boy was blushing for all the wrong reasons.

 

The class came to an end slowly, and as soon as the teacher let them go, Eddie had jumped up from his seat and fled out the door, without letting Richie have a one word. Despite the bang Richie felt in his chest, he knew he deserved it. He couldn’t blame Eddie for not wanting to be around him.

 

Richie had always had a habit of skipping school lunches. Mostly because he always forgot to bring food along with him to school and the school food always tasted like shit. It had already become a habit of his to use the free time during lunch period to smoke, so he told Stan that he’ll come keep him company as soon as he’d satisfied his need of nicotine.

 

Richie chose the side of the school where nobody could see him to smoke. Not because he was afraid of getting trouble for it – he was going to at some point – but because he didn’t really like to be bothered. At least not when his day was going as shitty as it did now. Richie didn’t have too high expectations when it came to how the first day was going to go – but he had imagined getting at least some what good of a chance to talk to Eddie. Even if it was going to be just Eddie yelling at him in anger, which again was understandable. But Eddie hadn’t given him the chance and now Richie was even more afraid of hurting the other boy’s feelings.

 

”Well look who it is,” a voice came from his left, and Richie turned his head to meet the eyes of none other than Beverly Marsh, who didn’t look either angry or particularly happy. ”Looks like neither of us could stay away that long, huh?”

 

Richie blew the smoke out of his mouth. ”There really is no escaping the hell-hole that is Derry,” he hummed. ”But you seemed to find your way back way quicker.”

 

”Yes, and I had the decency to at least try to contact my friends during the few years of living in Portland,” Beverly retorted, still not looking mad as she took steps closer to Richie until she was right at his side and took the cigarette from his hands before putting it in her own mouth.

 

”Listen, I’ve already got one lecture today-”

 

”Oh, I’m sure you have. I doubt Stan would’ve taken you back to his open arms without giving you at least one,” Beverly nodded as she took a long drag of the cigarette and blew the smoke out. ”And I’m sure you had a perfectly good explanation as well. I too would like to hear it. Just to know how desperate Stan is to get somebody on his side.”

 

Richie shot a glare at beverly, to which she only responded with a challenging look. ”He has told you his side of the story, yeah?”

 

”I take it that your side is completely different,” Richie shot back. He remembers how close he and Beverly used to be – they both bonded over their shitty family life and the smoking habit, but now it seemed like she was colder than before. That too was most definitely Richie’s fault.

 

”Depends on what he told you,” Beverly shrugged, giving Richie back his cigarette. ”But I don’t care why that is. I want to know why you never called or wrote.”

 

”I forgot,” Richie answered. It was easier to admit it the second time around – or maybe it was because talking to Beverly was different than talking to Stan.

 

”Right,” Beverly nodded. ”Of course. It just never came into your mind that people might want to know what’s up-”

 

”No, Beverly I’m serious. I explained this to Stan already, and it’s fucking exhausting,” Richie groaned. He knew he wasn’t being his usual, energetic self today, but he didn’t even feel like being that. ”I don’t even know what happened. All I know that I planned on calling as soon as we got to San Fransisco, then it slipped out of my mind, and soon did everything else. I didn’t think about Derry, I didn’t remember that I had friends, I didn’t remember anything. My whole childhood was a blur. I don’t know why. That’s my excuse, so go ahead and get mad at me.”

 

Beverly stared at him for a while with a blank look. ”Okay, fine. I get it – same happened to me. Myabe not as bad, because Ben wrote letters to me, but I understand where you’re coming from,” she sighed. ”I’m not going to hold it against you, but Eddie will, and I know that’s what matters the most to you.”

 

Richie groaned, not wanting to think about it. He was going to have to come up with a plan to get Eddie to forgive him, before it was too late. ”You want to tell me your side of the story with Stan? Before I take my side,” Richie asked, wanting to change the subject to something else.

 

”What did Stan tell you?” Beverly asked, playing with the ends of her now longer hair.

 

”He just said that Bill rejected him and then he didn’t want to be around him anymre – and that all of you took Bill’s side.”

 

Beverly nodded and took the cigarette again from Richie. ”Okay – that was more or less what happened, yes. A little over-simplified, maybe,” she admitted, taking a drag of the cigarette before giving it back to Richie, who mimicked the action. ”Stan didn’t tell you why Bill rejected him?”

 

Richie shook his head as an answer.

 

”Okay, well I moved back about two and a half a year ago, and it all went down about eight months after that, I guess. I know that Stan had been talking a lot to Mike about how he wanted to confront Bill about the fact that they were soulmates – both of them knew it, but neither one did anything about it. But then, before Stan could say anything, Bill came in first, telling Stan that he liked him as nothing but a friend, because he had fallen in love with someone else,” Beverly took deep breath. ”Stan took it really hard and wouldn’t show up to school for two weeks. Mike and I visited him then one day and he told us that he doesn’t think he can be around Bill anymore. And we tried to keep him around – we’d invite him to movie nights, to the diner, to the quarry, even for a road trip when Bill got his license, but he never showed up. After months and months of him refusing to spend time with us, we just figured if he doesn’t want to be around any of us, then we can’t really force him either. He stopped talking to us, all except Mike, and we just fell out of touch.”

 

The fact that Beverly’s side of the story was more detailed, made it more believable to Richie – but at the same time, he didn’t want to side against Stan. Not that the story made him feel like there really were sides, just Stan not wanting to be with Bill and the others not wanting to be in the middle. But Richie couldn’t help but feel bitter towards Bill – who in their right minds would reject Stan? Richie didn’t understand it. To him soulmates had always been sort of a sacred thing. If there was a person you were meant to be with, you wouldn’t find anybody that would be better for you than them, why would you not want to choose them over anybody? Richie knew for a fact that his parents weren’t soulmates – he had seen their tattoos when he was younger, and no two people who were meant for each other would fight that much – but he had always told himself it was for other reasons, not because they had been rejected by the one they were supposed to be with.

 

”Who did Bill fall in love with then?” Richie asked. ”Who was so much better than Stan that he would want to reject him.”

 

Beverly didn’t say anything right away. Instead she bit her lip and refused to meet his eyes. ”I don’t think you want to know,”she sighed after a while.

 

”Is it somebody disgusting, like Gretta Keene? Come on, I can take it.”

 

”Bill and Eddie have been dating for about a year and a half now,” Beverly said, making Richie’s heart drop to his stomach.

 

It made him feel oddly lightweighted, like he had drunk too much and was balancing on passing out and staying up. The air seemed to heavy for him to breathe and his legs didn’t carry him anymore. It was a stupid reaction really – he should’ve been prepared for Eddie to have somebody. He himself had gone through a few crushes during the past five years – it was wrong to assume that Eddie hadn’t. Richie knew that Eddie was a catch, he should’ve been prepared for somebody to hook him up anyway.

 

And even if he had been, he would have never expected it to have been Bill. Or at least he wouldn’t even dream about Eddie and Bill together – because what did Richie was compared to Bill? Bill had always been that handsome, intelligent, kind and caring, well-behaved guy, while Richie was anything but. Bill had grown up to be kind of well built and well cleaned up, the kind of boy Mrs Kaspbrak could’ve approved of if she were to approve Eddie liking boys. And Richie was gangly and messy, with just the right amount of clumsiness – somebody like Eddie preferring him over Bill was very unlikely. But still he hadn’t considered them to be together.

 

If Bill had been ready to reject Stan for Eddie, was Eddie willing to do the same for Bill? Because Richie wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to handle the pain that would come with it. He had loved Eddie for so long for him to be able to take it that lightly.

 

”Are you okay, Rich?” Beverly asked, putting her hand on his arm, and Richie couldn’t help but wonder how she’d know that he was going to react so badly to this.

 

”I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be? I’m perfect – perfectly happy that Bill and Eddie have found happiness,” he smiled widely. ”I promised Stan I’d join him for lunch, so I should probably get going now.” Dropping his cigarette on the ground and stepping on it, he went back inside the school and into the cafeteria, where he spotted Stan sitting alone in the corner.

 

”So, Eddie and Bill, huh? Didn’t see that coming,” Richie said as soon as he sat down to the seat opposite of Stan.

 

It might not have been the best thing to say, considering the way Stan’s face visibly paled as he glanced behind Richie to the other side of the cafeteria, where Richie assumed the rest of the losers were sitting. ”You might’ve been too in love with Eddie to notice,” Stan shrugged, putting his empty lunch-box back to his bag. ”But I noticed it, and so did Bev. It was stupid of me to think I stood a chance.”

 

”It’s Bill’s own loss to reject you Stan,” Richie said and turned his head to see where Bill, Eddie, Mike, Ben and now also Bev were sitting. And sure enough, Eddie and Bill were seated close, Bill’s arms over Eddie’s shoulders as he whispered something to his ear.

 

”That might be the first time I’ve ever heard you say something even remotely considerate,” Stan snorted and Richie turned back around.

 

”Wouldn’t get used to it Staniel.”

 

* * *

 

Richie wasn’t one with good ideas – that was given. But he never considered his ideas exactly _bad_ once either – just once that could be improved. And while going outside Eddie’s room in the middle of the night to throw rocks at the window, like he always used to do when they were kids, was nice as a concept, it wasn’t all that nice when he was standing in the Kaspbrak’s yard with his hand filled with pebbles. Yes, he was having some second thoughts.

 

What if he was fast asleep and wouldn’t wake up? What if Mrs Kaspbrak was the one to wake up? What if Bill was there just then? What if Eddie wouldn’t even let him inside?

 

 _Well, there’s only one way to find out_ , Richie thought as he took one of the pebbles into his other hand and threw it at the window. He didn’t need to throw the other one, because soon Eddie was there, opening the window and looking down at Richie with a confused expression.

 

”Richie? What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked, and this time his voice wasn’t sad – it was tired and remotely annoyed.

 

”I’ve come to fall on my knees before thou, to beg for thee forgiveness for my actions. I may not deserve it, but I refuse to leave the premises until I have succeeded on my quest,” Richie declared, doing his best impression of a medieval knight, which wasn’t really all that convincing. Eddie must’ve thought so too, judging by the unimpressed look on his face.

 

”I think you’re using those pronouns wrong,” he said.

 

Richie shook his head. ”I’m fairly sure that I’m using them right.”

 

”You can come up,” Eddie said, a little begrudgingly. ”But you have to be quiet.”

 

”Yeah, that’s a promise we both know I can’t make,” Richie shook his head, but started to climb the tree on their yard anyway. When they were young, that was Richie’s number one entry to the Kaspbrak household – Mrs Kaspbrak definitely didn’t want Richie germs in her house.

 

Once safely in Eddie’s bedroom, Richie noticed that it had changed a bit from their childhood – it was still excessively tidy, but there weren’t so many pill bottles anymore, in fact there were none if the aspirator didn’t count. Eddie had also started to gather some knick knacks in his rooms, which he had never done when they were younger, because they would gather so much dust. There were posters on his walls, with pictures and drawings that were obviously made by Bill.

 

”Beverly already told us your excuse,” Eddie said as he sat back down his bed. ”I guess I can believe it, considering that the same thing happened to Bev.”

 

Richie bit his lip. ”But you won’t forgive me? You won’t have to – I should’ve given you my new number and address or something, so it’s my fault that you weren’t able to contact me.”

 

”I’m not okay with it. Living five years thinking that your… best friend just didn’t want to have anything to do with you anymore fucking sucked you know,” Eddie admitted, sniffing a little. ”But I guess I can’t blame you for it either. Beverly only remembered Ben when she moved out – because he always wrote to her. But yeah, you should’ve given us your address and number.”

 

Richie nodded. ”Good. Great, cool. How’ve you been the last five years. And my dream woman, Sonia Kaspbrak? Has she been too miserable without this dick?”

 

Eddie snorted at the comment. ”Would have imagined that you’d grow up and get bored of the mom jokes.”

 

”Never,” Richie grinned and sat on the bed next to Eddie. ”You should still answer my question: did my departure leave your dick permanently soft?”

 

”Yes, definitely,” Eddie scoffed. ”Like you ever made it hard anyways.”

 

They ended up talking for about two hours, not noticing the passage of time. And it was great and good – Richie didn’t even realize that all this time he had been missing Eddie while not ever remembering him. They went through everything they had done during the past five years, and while things weren’t the way they were back then five years ago, Richie still felt like Eddie hadn’t changed – he was still the Eddie Spaghetti he had fallen in love with in a young age.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter ended a little different than i intended. i was planning on richie having to fight for eddie's forgiveness a little more, but honestly,,, i just wrote it like this, so we'll go with it. I promise that there will definitely be more reddie from this point on, in next chapter it'll be like just reddie interaction... but i hope you all liked this
> 
> p.s as real and canon as reddie is, none of ya'll can convince me that bill wasn't eddie's first love, so fuck off with that bullshit.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you all for the positive feedback!
> 
> here's a lil eddie's pov

**3.**

 

It had been years since Eddie woke up with Richie Tozier in his room – he didn’t think he ever would again. But there he was, breathing on Eddie’s skin, sleeping in Eddie’s bed for the first time in five years.

 

Eddie didn’t even remember falling asleep last night – he and Richie had been so caught up talking that looking at the clock hadn’t been a pressing issue.

 

He had been genuinely surprised when Richie showed up the night before, but he felt like he shouldn’t have been – it was a common occurence when they were younger for Richie to sneak in through his window. So common in fact that Eddie had started to leave his window slightly open, just in case Richie would come that night. After Richie moved away, Eddie still found himself doing it.

 

It felt good to have sorted things out with Richie – the last five years had been hell. He couldn’t stop thinking what he had done wrong for Richie to not want to talk to him anymore. He had seemed so distraught when he was moving, refusing to let go of Eddie – when Richie never called or wrote, it came as a shock. If it hadn’t been for Bill, Eddie might’ve never gotten over the pain.

 

Thinking about Bill made Eddie sit up quickly – Bill was supposed to be his ride to school today (like he always was). And Bill had become so familiar with the Kaspbrak residence that he was allowed to just walk in without knockin and could be there in any minute. And the last thing Eddie wanted his boyfriend to see was Richie sleeping in the same bed with him.

 

Eddie quickly jumped off the bed, looking at the clock – Bill was going to be there in any second now. He had forgotten to set his alarm clock last night, he would have to remember to blame Richie for that.

 

Eddie quickly bounced over to his closet, stumbling on Richie’s shoes that were left lying on the floor.

 

”Why are you in my room mom?” Richie asked sleepily, his voice muffled by the pillow.

 

Eddie threw one of Richie’s own shoes at him. ”Not your room dipshit. Get up or you’re going to be late for school,” Eddie said, starting to go through his closet.

 

”I’ll just stay here then,” Richie yawned, turning on his side to look at Eddie who was just in the middle of changing a shirt. ”Going in for a strip tease this early in the morning? Okay, but I must warn you, my morning wood is all ready to go without it.”

 

Eddie pulled the shirt on quickly. ”Very funny. Now get up – Bill is going to be here soon.”

 

”Right, and he can’t see me in your bed,” Richie nodded, letting out a loud yawn. ”You could always lie and tell him we had some hot steamy sex, so he won’t get suspiscious.”

 

”Get up you idiot,” Eddie groaned, looking out the window just as Bill pulled over with his car.

 

”Alright, alright, don’t get your panties in a twist, princess,” Richie chuckled and got up from the bed, streching his limbs. ”God, I’d forgotten how comfy your bed is. Do you mind if I take it with me as I go?”

 

Eddie snorted and shushed him as he heard the front door open and close.

 

”E-eddie?” Bill called out.

 

”I’m up stairs!” Eddie called back, going through his closet for a clean pair of pants.

 

”How do you keep your closet so tidy?” Richie asked incredulously as he put his old denim jacket back on.

 

”By actually folding my clothes and not being nasty like you,” Eddie replied, rolling his eyes just as the door to his room opened to reveal Bill.

 

”Hey Eddie, wh-who are you t-talking t-” Bill cut his sentence off when he noticed Richie in the middle of Eddie’s room tying his shoe laces. ”R-richie?”

 

”How’s it hanging Billiam?” Richie asked, standing up straight and grinning at Bill.

 

”Wh-what are you d-doing in here?” Bill asked as Eddie turned around to put his clothes on in peace.

 

”Oh, you know the usual – spent the night with my one true love Mrs Kaspbrak for the first time in a while. God, I missed her.”

 

”Beep beep Richie!” Eddie glared at him, taking his shoes from the side of the closet. ”Hi Bill,” Eddie smiled at his boyfriend, walking over to him to wrap his arms around him.

 

”S-so why’s he h-here again? N-not that i-i-t’s not g-good to see you R-richie.”

 

”He just came over last night and fell asleep on my bed,” Eddie clarified, smiling up at Bill who smiled back before pecking his lips sweetly.

 

”It’s like watching a porno,” Richie said from behind them, making Eddie unwrap his arms from around Bill’s middle and shoot a glare at Richie who merely grinned back at him.

 

”S-so you came to an u-u-understanding of sorts?” Bill asked, keeping his other arm wrapped around Eddie’s middle.

 

”More or less,” Eddie said. ”I gotta get my bag from downstairs, then we can go.”

 

”Y-you need a r-ride to school Richie?”

 

”I don’t have my stuff here, so I better go...” Richie said, his voice reluctant.

 

”We c-can drive to y-y-yours first, it’s n-no big deal,” Bill shook his head with a smile. ”You st-still live in the same house, o-or did you move to a n-new place?”

 

”A new place. It’s not far,” Richie said pursing his lips, like he was trying to come up with an excuse. ”Okay, sure thanks.”

 

* * *

 

Eddie noticed that Richie hadn’t changed all that much – he still could talk someone’s ears off if given the chance. And Bill did give him the perfect chance, asking him about his life in San Fransisco and listening his story with enthusiasm. Eddie stayed silent for most of the ride, half listening to the conversation and half drowned by his own thoughts.

 

”Okay, I gotta ask cause I wanna know,” Richie then said when they had just arrived to the school and gotten out of the car. ”How did you two out of all people end up together?”

 

”Oh, um, w-w-well I asked Eddie out eighteen moths a-ago,” Bill answered, while Eddie stayed quiet.

 

Richie gave Bill a blank look. ”That’s it? You just asked him out, out of nowhere?”

 

”W-well in my d-d-defence, I’ve liked E-eddie since w-w-we were like nine,” Bill said, lifting his eyebrows in confusion, before looking at Eddie as though asking _why does he care?_.

 

Richie snorted and nodded. ”Okay then,” he said before turning to walk towards the school building, Bill and Eddie following him close behind.

 

Eddie couldn’t blame Richie for wondering how he and Bill had gotten together – when Bill and he first told their friends about it, they had received mixed reactions. All were of course happy for them, but confused none the less.

 

” _This is great and all Eddie,” Eddie remembers_ _Beverly telling him. ”But what about Richie?”_

 

It had been a stupid question at the time, because what about Richie? Richie had been long gone by then and showed no implication that he wanted anything to do with Eddie or any of the losers. So why should Eddie worry about Richie?

 

Beverly was the only one who knew about Eddie’s past crush on Richie – Eddie hadn’t even told Bill about it. And Beverly had been supportive of him from the very start, trying to encourage him to tell Richie. Eddie had refused because he couldn’t ruin their friendship.

 

Richie moving out didn’t effect anyone like it did effect Eddie – and that’s where Bill swooped in. Bill had been there for Eddie when he needed someone, when he was lonely and when he didn’t want to be around his mother. Previously it had been Richie doing those things, but when Richie had left, Eddie would have been lost without Bill. Maybe that was what Beverly didn’t understand when they told them about their relationship.

 

And it wasn’t like Bill was just a bandage, a replacement Richie. No, Eddie liked Bill for all the different reasons – Bill had been the one to ease his pain and help him get over his hopeless childhood crush.

 

Beverly, Ben and Mike were already waiting for them at Bill’s locker, and all except Bev seemed to be perplexed that Richie was with them.

 

”Well look what the cat dragged in,” Beverly said, eyeing Richie with a smirk. ”Or rather _cats_.”

 

”Always a pleasure Miss Marsh,” Richie replied before grinning at Mike and Ben. ”Would ya look at that – Haystack and Homeschool. Both of them outgrown their nicknames, how outrageous.”

 

”Good to see you too Richie,” Mike rolled his eyes gppd-heartedly. ”I was wondering whether or not you were ever gonna come to say hello.”

 

”My pride and the fact that I was pretty sure that all you hate me came in my way, sorry.”

 

”I don’t think anyone here ever hated you, Richie,” Ben smiled and the six of them fell into a lighthearted conversation. Richie was asked to tell what he had been up to for the past five years for the fourth time in the span of two days, but he didn’t seem to mind. Eddie zoned out at some point when he made a joke about Ben getting closer to being Hercules than Haystack. Eddie leaned against Bill’s side, feeling his arm snake around his middle as Eddie looked around the hallway.

 

The hallway was piled with people, nobody in a rush yet. Eddie was grateful that after middle school he and the rest of the losers club were mostly left alone – nobody cared enough to bully them anymore, with Bowers and his friends gone.

 

”We should probably get going to class,” Eddie said, tugging on Bill’s sleeve – they had French together and Eddie liked to be early.

 

”O-okay. You g-gonna join u-u-us for lunch, R-richie?” Bill asked, unwrapping his arm from around Eddie’s middle to lace their fingers together.

 

”I’m probably going to have lunch with Stan,” Richie answered with pursed lips.

 

”There’s n-n-nothing stopping Stan from coming t-too,” Bill said quietly and Eddie looked away quickly. Stan was a hard topic for him to talk about.

 

His friends did their best to convince Eddie that it wasn’t his fault that Stan had left them, but that didn’t stop Eddie from blaming himself. It had been his fault – if it hadn’t been for him, perhaps Bill wouldn’t have rejected Stan.

 

Eddie and Bill bid their good byes to their friends, before continuing to their first class.

 

”No detours you two!” Beverly yelled after them, making Bill turn around to flip her the bird.

 

* * *

 

”You w-wanna go catch a m-movie tonight?” Bill asked Eddie when they sat down at their regular table at the cafeteria – none of the others had arrived yet. ”I h-heard there’s a n-new horror film pl-pl-playing if you’re interested.”

 

”Could be fun,” Eddie smiled, taking out the lunch his mother had prepared for him and left in the fridge that morning. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed two figures entering the cafeteria – turning his head to look properly whether or not they were any of their friends, he noticed that it was Richie and Stan, walking over to the table furthest from the table he and Bill were seated.

 

”Do you think Richie’s changed?” Eddie asked Bill, who was happily munching on a snadwich.

 

”I-i would h-hope so. It’s been f-f-five years after all,” he answered, his mouth still filled with food, making Eddie wrinkle his nose.

 

”No, I mean, do you think he acts strange. Or is it just me?” Eddie turned his head to where Richie and Stan were sitting. Maybe he was just imagining it, but for a second it looked like Richie had been staring at him first, but turned his face at the same time as Eddie.

 

Bill shrugged. ”I didn’t notice. T-to me he’s st-still the s-same Trashmouth w-w-with longer hair.”

 

Eddie didn’t have time to answer before their friends had joined them and started an entirely new conversation, on which Eddie was only listening to with one ear.

 

”You okay Eddie?” Beverly asked when she noticed Eddie not paying attention to the conversation at hand.

 

Eddie nodded, biting down on a baby carrot. ”Yes, fantastic. Why you ask?”

 

”You’re quiet,” she mused. ”No snarky comments or opinions about the matter in hand.”

 

”What are we talking about again?” Eddie asked, making the group stop their conversation to look at him before laughing.

 

”See. You’re not even paying attention,” Beverly scolded, shaking her head but a kind smile was on her face.

 

Mike, Ben and Bill returned to their previous topic quite quickly, which Eddie was grateful for.

 

”You want to talk about it?” Beverly asked after a while, lowering her voice. ”Like, not in front of Billy?”

 

”Why would I not want to talk about it in front of Bill?”

 

Beverly shrugged. ”I mean, I’m assuming that it has something to do with Richie. So, I didn’t think you’d want to have that conversation in front of Bill...”

 

”Why would it be about Richie?” Eddie asked, getting a little defensive, which caused Beverly to let out a chuckle and hold her hands up in surrender.

 

”No need to get so easily riled about it. Damn,” Beverly said. ”Am I wrong then? It’s about something else?”

 

Eddie’s silence was an answer enough.

 

”You want to come by tonight? Or I can come to yours. To talk about it.”

 

Eddie shook his head. ”Bill and I are going to see a movie tonight,” he said.

 

”After that then,” Beverly suggested. ”Unless… Bill’s staying over or something and you two want your privacy, which I understand.”

 

”I you’re implying something...”

 

”I’m not implying anything,” Beverly shook her head and laughed. ”But okay. Tomorrow then – you and me, at the diner. No backing out.”

 

* * *

 

”That’s not a horror film Bill,” Eddie shook his head, looking at the movie poster at the theatre. ”That’s a fucking slasher movie and you know I hate those.”

 

”C-c-come on Eddie! I h-h-heard it’s r-really good,” Bill whined.

 

 _Wes Craven’s New Nightmare_ – Eddie had heard of it too from Beverly, who had liked it. But Eddie didn’t like the same sorts of movies that Beverly did. Sure, he did like some horror movies. In the end, most of the movies could never compare to the horrors he had experienced – but Eddie did draw the line on slasher films, mostly because he hated seeing blood and gore.

 

”Can’t we just go see _Forrest Gump_?” Eddie asked.

 

”We’ve s-s-seen that four times al-already,” Bill laughed.

 

”It’s a good movie!”

 

Bill nodded. ”I-i didn’t s-s-say that,” he said, glancing behind. ”Oh, h-hi Richie!”

 

Eddie turned around to see Richie standing next to ticket booth, waving back at them. He wasn’t alone though – Stan was with him, although he was doing a remarkable job of pretending that Eddie and Bill weren’t there.

 

Richie walked over to them, Stan begrudgingly following him, but keeping his distance. ”Hey, Eddie Spaghetti and his boy toy,” Richie grinned. ”What are you two doing in here?”

 

”Hunting elephants,” Eddie answered dryly. ”What does it look like.”

 

”It looks like you two were having a fight,” Richie said, grinning.

 

Bill shook his head. ”We weren’t f-f-fighting. Just having a d-d-debate over what w-we’re going to see.”

 

”Isn’t that right. Well Staniel and I are going to see the promising new horror film, so I suggest you two stay far from there,” Richie said. ”Unless you want to hear Stan’s moans, cause I’m about to go down on that.”

 

Bill and Eddie both gave him perplexed looks, before Bill let out a light chuckle. ”Okay, we’ll do that. You two have fun,” he said before guiding Eddie towards the ticket booth.

 

” _Forrest Gump_?” Eddie asked.

 

” _Forrest Gump_ ,” Bill agreed.

 

* * *

 

Eddie’s first period the next day was English. After a restless night, he wasn’t sure if he had the energy to deal with Richie – but if he was lucky, Richie was going to be on the mood as he was on the first day and be quiet for most of the time.

 

No such luck.

 

”Eds, my boy,” he grinned, throwing his bag on his desk and sliding into his seat in a way that he could face him. ”Did you sleep well last night or did me and your mom keep you up all night?”

 

Eddie groaned, not having the energy to even correct the nickname Richie used. ”Beep fucking beep, Richie.”

 

”I’m going to take that as a solid yes then,” Richie grinned, his eyes staying on Eddie even when the teacher came in. It was only after the teacher told Richie to turn so he could face the front of the class that Richie looked away.

 

Just like during the first class, Eddie noticed Richie glancing at him from time to time. He did his best to ignore it, not pay any mind to it. It was just Richie being Richie – he was probably just trying to get Eddie’s attention, so he could say some stupid joke again.

 

But it didn’t stop – at some point they weren’t even glances from the corner of the eye anymore, he would visibly turn his head just a little bit, to stare for a while.

 

”What are you staring at, you creep?” Eddie then snapped quietly, and Richie looked quite surprised, like he hadn’t expected Eddie to notice him looking.

 

”Just ya pretty face Eddie bear,” Richie recovered quickly, grinning widely at him. ”It’s quite hard to not look when you see someone as cute as you Eds.”

 

Eddie felt his cheeks heat up and he quickly turned to look at the work sheet in front of him. ”Shut up Trashmouth, and don’t call me Eds,” he muttered, waiting for the bell to ring.

 

”So did you have fun time with your little boyfriend yesterday?” Richie asked. The way he spat out the word _boyfriend_ confused Eddie. It sounded vaguely angry and bitter, almost disgusted. But it couldn’t have been because Richie was homophobic, right? Because Richie had always talked a lot about liking boys, even when they were younger. He had always filrted with boy and girls alike, it couldn’t have been because Richie thought same sex relationships were disgusting.

 

”Yes,” Eddie answered a little unsurely. He didn’t understand why Richie’s reaction to his and Bill’s relationship seemed so… negative.

 

”Hit the homerun afterwards, I assume,” Richie said as Eddie packed up his things, the bell already having rung. ”Hid the sausage. Bumped nasties. Used protection I hope.”

 

Eddie scoffed. ”What Bill and I do is none of your business Richie,” he sighed, walking out of the classroom with Richie hot on his heels.

 

”I just want to know what’s going on with your life Edie bear,” Richie said, throwing his arm around Eddie’s shoulder casually. ”How am I going to give you any relationship advice, if you don’t tell me about your relationship.”

 

”Maybe that’s the plan – I don’t tell you about my relationship, so you can’t give me crappy advice.”

 

”Does he treat you well?” Richie asked then, his voice quieter and tone different.

 

Eddie stopped by his locker, Richie stopping with him. ”He’s Bill, what do you think?” he asked, throwing his books in there before turning to face Richie.

 

”That doesn’t answer my question,” Richie said.

 

”He’s like a Disney prince,” Eddie admitted, smiling lightly at the thought.

 

Richie nodded with pursed lips. ”You love him?”

 

That question made the smile on Eddie’s face disappear. ”Why are you suddenly interrogating me about this subject?” he asked, getting a little too defensive again.

 

”Whoa, don’t get your panties in a twist my dear. Just asking,” Richie chuckled nervously. ”Just thought that you know, after eighteen months of dating, you’d get to the big ’L’ word.”

 

”I think that’s between Bill and I, thank you,” Eddie said, slamming his locker closed.

 

* * *

 

”God, I’ve been craving for these milkshakes for so long,” Beverly sighed, letting out almost an erotic moan as she sipped on her chocolate milkshake.

 

”Should I give you two privacy?” Eddie asked, taking a sip of his own strawberry shake.

 

Beverly shook her head. ”Me and the milkshake can get down to it later,” she said. ”We’re here because of you. How are you?”

 

”I said everything is spectacular,” Eddie sighed.

 

”No, you said everything is fantastic,” Beverly corrected. ”Now tell me what’s up. And don’t say Richie has nothing to do with it, because I know for sure that he’s the cause of it, whether intentional or not. You’ve been acting all moody sense the first English class with him.”

 

Eddie stayed silent for a while. ”I don’t know – it’s just that he feels so different and so similar at the same time. Like, suddenly I can’t act as natural around him as I used to, but I want to be friends with him again,” Eddie shrugged. ”I mean, we are friends again, I’d assume. I let him sleep in my bed and all.”

 

”Yeah, we’re going to have to talk about that too some time,” Beverly said. ”Do you know why you don’t feel natural with him anymore?”

 

”What are you, my therapist?”

 

Beverly chuckled. ”I’m trying to be your friend. And your therapist, now spill it.”

 

”I don’t know. Like when we were younger it wasn’t weird that we slept in the same bed or held hands or whatever. And I know it’s not just me acting weirdly – it’s like every time there’s Bill involved, he starts acting strange. He actively seeks out conversation about our relationship, then acts all disgusted by it, asking questions that aren’t his business. Like today he asked if I love Bill or not.”

 

”Do you?” Beverly asked.

 

”Do I what?”

 

”Love Bill,” Beverly clarified.

 

Eddie huffed. ”I already told Richie that that’s between Bill and I,” he said, twirling the straw in his cup. ”It’s none of anybody else’s business.”

 

”So you haven’t said it to him yet,” Beverly mused. ”You know he loves you.”

 

”I know, but I don’t want to say anything until I’m one hundred percent sure,” Eddie sighed. ”It’s not like I don’t care about him.”

 

Beverly had a weird look on her face and she muttered something under her breath that Eddie couldn’t quite catch. Evetually she nodded. ”How about you just talk to Richie,” she then suggested.

 

”We already talked. Almost the entire night – and things were fine then, it was all good, until he asked if I had any romantic intrests and I started talking about Bill – that’s when he started acting all weird.”

 

”Maybe you should just confront him why he’s weird,” Beverly suggested. ”But is that the only reason you’re feeling a little down in the dumps?”

 

Eddie shrugged. ”I don’t know. Just seeing him again is weird – like all the hurt I’d managed to get over came back with a storm. And I know he explained himself in the same way that you did, but I still don’t feel right about it,” he admitted. ”Like, you can’t just forget everything.”

 

Beverly was silent for a while, before nodding.

 

”And then there’s the thing with Stan,” Eddie continued before Beverly could speak. ”I still feel guilty every time I see him, and Richie’s more or less attached himself to him and the yesterday he implicated that he and Stan were fucking or something-”

 

”Yeah, they’re not fucking,” Beverly shook her head with a laugh. ”Stan has higher standards than that.”

 

Eddie shrugged. ”Well he implied it.”

 

”He implies it with everybody, it’s Richie,” Beverly said. ”Do you… Do you still like him?”

 

”I spent four years trying to forget about him and I finally managed. Don’t bring that up again Beverly, please.”


End file.
